Auto Industry NewsAnd Car Reviews

The Race of Champions has signaled the end of the racing season for many years now. Predominantly held in Europe, the RoC pits the best race drivers from around the world against each other in identical cars, on a track that crosses itself, ensuring the same distance traveled by both competitors.

This year's RoC is being held at the "Bird's Nest" Stadium in Beijing China, last used for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In our first installment of RoC coverage, AutoShopper will review the various machines to be raced in the 2009 RoC.

Toyota announced that it would pull the plug on its Formula 1 program today, confirming rumors that have been floating around the F1 world since the middle of the 2009 season. In an even stranger turn of events, Bridgestone, the tire company that chased Michellin out of the sport several years ago, decided to end their involvement in the F1 World Championship following the 2010 season.

Coming to an Isle of Britannia near you: (In other words, you'll have to have it imported over here, at first anyway) Eric Bana's "Love The Beast" That's right, kids, your favorite bad-Hulk, Eric Bana, has refurbished his cherished Ford Falcon and entered it in the Targa Tasmania Rally. As with anything involving the words "Targa" and "Tasmania" this race is dastardly in its ability to chew up race-prepped cars and spit them out.

Also starring Mr. Bana's childhood friends, as well as Jay Leno, Jeremy Clarkson, and Dr. Phil . . . Doctor Phil?! What the eff?! . .. this trailer does its job, making me want to see Eric conquer "600 horsepower and leaf-springs" as Clarkson so eloquently puts it . . . The trailer and corresponding news report of the Falcon eating a tree inside the post. . .

The Formula One season ended on Sunday, under the watercolor Abu Dhabi sunset. Sebastian Vettle dominated the second portion of the race, clinching his fourth victory of the season. Lewis Hamilton took pole postion during qualifiying Saturday afternoon, but he never felt comfortable during the race. Hamilton's McLaren was a bear under braking, and he retired shortly after his first pit stop. The right-rear caliper failed, attributed to the complexity of the McLaren brake set-up: Brembo calipers clamp Akebono rotors in the rear, while the front brakes are manufactured by Carbon Industries. Most teams use only one of these suppliers for all four brake assemblies.

After three years in the sport, this was the first DNF related to a mechanical failure for Lewis Hamilton. Ever. McLaren builds a tank of a GP car.

So that's the result, but so many more interesting things happened during Sunday's broadcast. The astounding architecture of the United Arab Emirates, the last race for BMW/Sauber, Alonso and Raikkonen choking away final races with their current teams, and how exactly can you hold a major motor racing event in a country that outlaws drinking?

In my last post on RLCs I talked about how when a city decides to install these devices their concerns are not about safety because the studies show that they increase the chance of accidents. If you have any doubts, ask yourself why would a city install the RLCs and then reduce the yellow light timing to less than the federal or state guidelines unless they wanted only to produce more red light violations. In order to get the cameras installed, the city has to write the ordinances so that the violations do not put any points on drivers’ licenses. Why would the city decriminalize a violation as serious as running a red light? It's really not that complicated. Red light cameras are used only to create a revenue stream for the incestuous relationship between money-hungry cities and money-grubbing RLC companies.

So far we have gushed over Lamborghinis and Camaros, completely panned pathetic Buicks and Chryslers, and have had some kind words for Kia and Subaru.

After the Chrysler booth I was desperately low on blood sugar, a feeling that may have been exacerbated by my utter disgust at what I saw in the Chrysler booth. Moving on to Ford, I was hoping that a financially solid American company was going to turn my frown upside down. It did, sort of.

The 2009 Lake Mirror Classic Car Show presents an interesting mix of classics, imports, super cars, and even race cars every year. This yellow Saab Sonnet is one such race car.

Its unassuming looks, encouraged by its unassuming tractor/passenger car roots belie its abilities. This car started life as a run-of-the-mill sedan, but quickly blossomed into the thouroghbred you see here . . .

The first floor of the multi-tiered Tampa International Auto Show was used to showcase high-end autos and customs. Audis, Aston Martins, GLK-Convertible abortions, and so on. The real war was going on upstairs, where Chevrolet, Buick, Ford, Lincoln, Subaru, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, and several others were all positioned uncomfortably close to each other. Why uncomfortably close? Because the AutoShopper was able to compare Kia and Buick directly . . . not a good thing for Buick.

For the past 10 years the people of Lakeland have had the pleasure of hosting the Lake Mirror Classic car show at beautiful Lake Mirror. The show is one of the country's leading classic car shows and is always a firm favorite with the public. This year’s feature display showcased European cars from the art deco era. In the midst of all the beautiful cars from the brass era, pre-war, post-war, domestic sports cars, and muscle cars there are always a few cars that are of particular interest.